Rates of repeated self-harming among teenagers are rising, with early school leavers, transgender and gender-diverse adolescents most at risk, a new study has found.

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) on Thursday published the findings of a study it conducted with King’s College in London on youth mental health.

It found that increased rates of poor mental health and suicide attempts recorded among Irish adolescents during the Covid-19 pandemic have fallen.

However, the researchers said there was a “worrying” increase in the proportion of teenagers reporting repetitive self-harming.

The study analysed more than 20,000 anonymous responses to the Planet Youth Survey from students aged 15-19 in 113 secondary schools across six counties to estimate national trends in poor mental health, repetitive self-harm and suicide attempts between 2018 and 2023.

One in five respondents reported having poor mental health at the time of the survey, one in eight reported repeated self-harm during their lives and one in 12 reported having attempted suicide at some point.

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The proportion of adolescents reporting repeated self-harm, defined as five or more instances in their lifetime, increased from 9.7 per cent during the pandemic to 11.1 per cent two years post-pandemic.

Rates were significantly higher among females, trans and gender-diverse adolescents, and early school leavers who are pupils in Youthreach centres.

Trans and gender diverse young people reported the highest rates of subjectively poor mental health (52 per cent), repetitive self-harm (44 per cent) and suicide attempts (23 per cent).

Pupils in Youthreach centres were twice as likely to report a history of self-harm or suicide attempts when compared with their peers still in mainstream secondary school.

Dr Niamh Dooley, research fellow at RCSI’s Department of Psychiatry and at King’s College London, said the study shows that in a typical classroom of 25 senior cycle students, five will report poor mental health, three will have self-harmed multiple times, and two will have attempted suicide at some point.

“While we knew already that demand for adolescent mental health supports in Ireland exceeds available services, these findings illustrate just how wide that gap may be,” she said.

“They underline the need for stronger mental health supports at every level – especially in secondary schools, primary care and community-based services.”

The findings were published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, and researchers say the prevalence estimates from the study “may be used to determine the minimum service capacity of community mental health teams”.

Prof Mary Cannon, professor of psychiatric epidemiology and youth mental health at RCSI, said the findings reflect “growing societal concern about teenage mental health”.

“The continued prevalence of suicide attempts highlights the importance of early, universal prevention, as well as targeted interventions for groups of young people who face heightened and more complex risks,” she added.

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